> I wish I had the knowledge and skills to build my own.
It's not hard to do. The components are standardized -- for example, most full size desktop PC motherboards and cases conform to the "ATX standard," which means you can use any such motherboard and case together and they'll fit each other. Also, only the parts which actually physically connect with each other have to be compatible. For example, the CPU and RAM don't connect with each other but instead both plug into the motherboard at different places, so you don't have to worry about the CPU and RAM being compatible with each other -- the motherboard takes care of that.
You can also buy "barebone kits" from some vendors. Usually those consist of a case, motherboard, CPU, RAM, hard drive, and power supply. The vendor has already verified that those all work together, so you just assemble them yourself, add a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, and you're done. Now, the downside of a barebone kit is this. The vendor usually offers it that way because there's some inventory item that's not selling quickly enough, say, a particular hard drive, and by coupling it with all that other hardware they can get it moving out of the warehouse. Before buying a barebone kit, ask yourself, "are the components I really want out of this set worth the overall price?"
But you don't have to buy a barebone kit to make use of it. When a vendor offers something like that for sale, they implicitly warrant that those items do work together. Once, when building a PC for a friend, I bought a CPU and motherboard which I was unsure were compatible. I bought them because the vendor had them listed for sale as a combo. The listing said the combo was discontinued, but it was still there in the online catalog. When they arrived, I found that my suspicions were correct, they weren't compatible. The online listing had a typo in it, the CPU that was compatible with this motherboard had a slightly different model number. I phoned the vendor, told them what had happened, and said, "I'd like to direct your attention to your catalog item number XXXXX. It's discontinued, but it's still up on your site, implying you did sell these things together at one time. I relied upon that as your implied guarantee that this CPU and motherboard are compatible --" The agent immediately cut me off and said, "OK, you get a full refund." Any reputable business will honor that obligation.
I bought a barebone kit for my very first PC build. I haven't bought one since, because as I said, there's usually some part in the kit that I don't really want and it's not worth the money. But if I see one for sale, or a CPU/motherboard combo, or some other such thing, I'll buy the particular items from that vendor for that reason; the vendor has warrantied them as compatible. But you don't really need that information that way. Mostly it's a matter of downloading the manual for the motherboard and checking everything against that. And of course, once your vendor sees that you're ready to fork over some cash, they'll be very helpful in answering your questions about parts being compatible.
What tools are required? From what I remember, a full set of screwdrivers, but little more than that. If you've got just the ordinary person's collection of tools, not a professional handyman's, you'll be fine. You do need to rig up some arrangement to ensure that you and all the PC parts are electrically grounded as you work with them. PC components are far more resistant to static electricity than they used to be, but static shock is still a hazard.
If you build a low end PC, all the components should be small enough that everything will fit togehter with plenty of spare room. Higher end PCs can be a little more complicated. When I built this one, I spent about an hour getting the CPU fan mounted -- the socket had such a tight tolerance that the screws had to drop in exactly right, and I kept jiggling the thing around trying to get the screws to drop in where they should, until by luck they did. And if you plan on using a full size video card, you'll need to verify that the case is big enough to take it. But on the whole, building a PC is no more difficult than changing a car tire.
For a long time I went to Tiger Direct for my computer parts. Their service was very reliable and the salespeople were good to work with. Then they outsourced some of their fulfillment to third party vendors, and some parts I ordered took weeks to arrive. I don't know if they still have that problem, I've used Newegg since then. But both companies stand behind their service and will treat you right if things go wrong.
reply
share